I cannot believe we are a week away from Christmas! When I was a kid, I felt like December would last forever. It was torturously long. As a middle-aged adult, it flies by. I blinked, and over half of it is gone. Such is life, though. The hours are long and the years are short. I’m looking forward to the quiet, slow days between Christmas and New Year’s, though. I think that might be my favorite week of the year.
Here are my four things for the week: Manet & Morisot, Band of Brothers, doing instead of consuming, and things that make me smile as a business owner.
what I’m reading
I finished Paris in Ruins, and it was so good! If you love history, impressionism, and a good story, do yourself a favor and read this book. If I could wish a new period miniseries into existence, it would be this. Anyway, this led me to look into other books about Manet and Morisot specifically, since they are the book’s primary subjects. I have several books on Manet and Morisot, as well as the other impressionists, and how they all worked together, but not one on their work together. I searched to see if one existed, and guess what? One just came out in October, so I bought Manet and Morisot as a Christmas gift. I haven’t read it yet, but I am looking forward to it!
what I’m watching
Jeff and I first watched Band of Brothers by renting the episodes on DVDs from Blockbuster. It was over Thanksgiving break, and we were cat-sitting and house-sitting for his parents, so it was just going to be the two of us. In addition, we were getting significant snow, so we planned to watch movies and have a low-key holiday. We had only rented the first disc or two and, as Easy Company was about to go into Bastogne, we realized we needed to get the rest of the series! So, we put on our boots and coats and drove over to Blockbuster in the snow, hoping the discs would be there.
Anyway, it has been one of our favorite series ever since. We haven’t watched it for a few years, so we decided to watch it this week. (As you would expect of a WWII series, it contains war violence, language, and other content, earning it a TVMA rating. Just an FYI.)
what I’m loving
“Let us ask the gods not for possessions, but for things to do; happiness is in making things rather than consuming them.” – Will Durant, Fallen Leaves.
As we’re in the season of present-giving and receiving, it’s a good time to think not only about the physical things we’ll unwrap and how we’ll enjoy them, but also about the things we want to do. What do you want to learn, to make, to create, to write, to share..?
what I’m working on
I’m still working on Christmas decorating, painting, and the usual things, but one thing that has brought me more joy than I expected was working on some new branding materials. My assistant and brand designer, Heidi, and I worked on a rebrand this year, and now that the website is done, we’ve been working together on some printed materials – gift certificates, envelope seal stickers, note cards, stamps, business cards, stationery, and more.
For me, it’s one of the fun parts of having my own business! There is my name and a design I drew by hand on a stamp I can put on the back of paintings, packages, and envelopes. It all makes me smile.
Now that I’ve completed all of my commissioned paintings for Christmas presents, I have been painting some of the Costwold sheet I photographed in England. That has made me smile as well.
What have you been reading, watching, loving, and working on?
14 Responses
Band of Brothers…I cannot even hear the music without the tears coming on. I watched it with my husband and my younger stepson. He loved it, and I was so happy he enjoyed it. It’s just so deeply tragic, and some of the scenes are so hard to watch. But it is excellent storytelling, and a consequential part of our history. As for my doing vs consuming, I am wanting to put more focus back into my blog, as well improving it’s visibility. I TOO love that quiet, slow week between Christmas and New Years Day!
For both November and December, I have been crafting beautiful objects. This year is been the same as last year, where I have continued expanding my knitted mushrooms and metallic cardstock Moravian stars. Both are very satisfying crafts because they don’t take an enormous amount of time to complete, so I can make something every day and feel successful. I’m getting a sizeable collection of each now, and it makes for wonderful displays!
On your recommendation my husband and I watched Dickensian and loved it!! Thank you!! All your TV recs are totally in line with what we enjoy. Keep them coming!
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’ll definitely keep suggesting stuff as I find new gems and revisit favorites.
The stamp is beautiful. I wonder what plant inspired it, can you tell?
I work on cleaning my studio, it takes for ever and I procrastinate a lot, one ‘good’ excuse: the RSV virus still makes me cough almost four weeks since I got the long lasting monster virus.
I think it is based on a mustard plant.
Yes, it’s a mustard flower. I hope you start feeling better! I know those coughs can linger for a long time.
I love your post and have followed you for a while. You are so gifted….your paintings are so beautiful and life-like, your AC enclosure is perfect and the trellis is great too.
It seems that the art of letter writing, sending greeting cards, the use of stationery seem to be falling in the category of lost art. Every year I notice less Christmas cards come even though I am sending out lots to family and friends that I won’t see during the holidays. I noticed that you mentioned stationery in your rebranding plans. Even Barnes and Noble has put it in the clearance section of their stores. Perhaps all occasion gift wrap, bags, wrap accessories, etc may be needed.
Band of Bothers is mu favorite series too. I watched it first in January 2009 and on snowy nights I still remember and thank the soldiers of Easy Company, enduring the winter cold and ice in 2 man foxholes with no winter uniforms. I also loved the books the series were based on such as Duck Winters’ autobiography.
Thank you for your blog, blessings to you and your loved ones in this joyous Christmas season.
Band of Brothers is a favorite in our home too. We’ve been to Normandy and it was an emotional experience. Merry Christmas.
Yes, I would like to go there some day! It’s on my to-travel list.
I can’t see Manet without thinking of how I learned which were his paintings vs which were Monet’s. Manet used mAyonaise white! I’ll have to look for Paris in Ruins.
We love Band of Brothers too! It can be um, challenging watching military movies with an Army vet in the house but BOB holds a special place in our hearts. Donald Malarkey was a local gentleman who recently passed (yikes, that was back in 2017, Memory Eternal) and would visit local schools. I’d highly recommend his book as well. I’m sure like us your family is CONSTANTLY quoting the series “fighting over [insert trivial thing here]. That’s smart…we’re not lost Private, we’re in Normandy… etc etc etc.” We’ve found Easy’s foxholes looking out on Foy; they had naturally been filled in over the years. We’ve had tagine near the crossroads of Bastogne. We’ve collected sand from the D-Day beaches of Normandy… One of our children was born on June 6… Anyway. When you DO go we have lovely suggestions. <3
Oh, I would love to go visit some of the places they were in WWII. Thank you so much for painting the picture of some of those areas. We often quote “I’m glad I’m not in Bastogne” on cold nights. I haven’t read Malarky’s book, but I read several of the books by others in Easy.